American  Citizens.  Thsir  RightsAbruad— Their  Duties  at  Dome. 


SPEECH 


OF  NEW  YORK, 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


JULY  17,  1888. 


.  Published  by  the  Union  Congressional  Committee ,  Washington.  1).  V. 

Chronicle  Print. 


SPEECH  OF  HON.  C.  H.  VAN  WYCK. 


Mr.  VAN  WYCK.  On  the  19th  day  of 
June  last  I  introduced  the  following  resolu¬ 
tion: 

Whereas  foreign  nations  should  not  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  rahe  the  question  whether  American 
citizenship  was  acquired  by  birth  or  adoption, 
the  rights  of  citizenship  being  the  same  to  all 
citizens;  and  whereas  this  Republic  has  pledged 
its  faith  to  persons  of  all  nations  that  resi¬ 
dence,  renunciation  of  former  allegiance,  and 
compliance  with  our  laws,  makes  them  citi¬ 
zens  here,  and  the  honor  of  the  nation  is 
pledged  that  such  promises  be  redeemed,  no 
matter  whence  came  the  citizen  or  however 
powerful  the  nation  that  denies  it;  and  whereas 
Great  Britain  has,  in  defiance  of  the  law  of 
nations — a  portion  of  her  own  history  and  the 
results  of  the  war  of  1812— lately  established 
in  her  courts  the  dogma  “once  a  subject  al¬ 
ways  a  subject,”  and  has  in  repeated  instances 
refused  to  recognize  the  rights  of  American 
citizens  by  denying  them  the  privilege  of 
m'xed  juries,  treating  as  subjects  of  her -realm 
many  of  our  cif'zens  who  had  periled  life  in  de¬ 
fence  of  this  Government  during  the  war  of 
tue  rebellion,  in  some  cases  arresting  and  im¬ 
prisoning  for  words  spoken  in  this  country: 
Therefore, 

Be  it  resolved ,  That  the  President  of  the 
United  States  immediately  demand  from  any 
foreign  country  who  may  have  imprisoned 
American  citizens  for  words  spoken  in  this 
country  acknowledgment  as  complete  and 
ample  as  was  made  by  this  Government  in  the 
apology  for  the  arrest  of  Messrs.  Mason  and 
Slidell;  and  if  such  apology  be  denied,  he  re¬ 
port  the  fact  to  Congress  for  its  action.  Also, 
that  he  demand  reparation  in  all  cases  where 
American  citizens  have  been  treated  as  sub¬ 
jects  of  a  foreign  power;  and  that  to  all  such 
persons  now  imprisoned  the  rights  herein 
claimed  shall  be  granted;  and  that  he  report 
to  this  House  what  he  has  done,  if  anything, 
to  secure  such  rights  and  redress  the  wrongs 
above  set  forth. 

A  question  arising  as  to  the  treatment  of 
American  citizens  by  Great  Britain,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  precise  facts,  on  the 
25th  of  June  I  submitted  another  resolu¬ 
tion: 

Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the  Uuited 
States  be  requested  to  inform  this  House 
whether  any  American  citizens  have  been  ar¬ 
rested,  tried,  convicted,  or  imprisoned  in  Great 
Britain  for  words  spoken  and  acts  done  in  this 
country;  whether  any  American  citizens  have 
been  by  Great  Britain  denied  their  rights  as 
each,  or  otherwise  treated  as  English  subjects; 
whether  American  citizens  have  been  denied 
the  privilege  of  mixed  juries;  whether  Ameri- 
cm  citiz-ns  thus  treated  are  now  confined  in 
English  prisons,  and  what  he  has  done  to  se¬ 
cure  the  release  of  any  such  persons,  aud  why 
they  have  not  been  released. 

Although  t  te  information  must  be  in  the 
files  of  the  State  Department,  the  ques¬ 
tions  easy  of  answer,  no  reply  has  as  yet 
been  made.  However,  every  reader  of 
current  history  knows  the  present  claims 
of  Great  Britain  of  perpetual  allegiance, 


that  the  accident  of  birth  prevents  a  man 
from  making  any  other  the  home  and 
country  of  his  choice.  Practically  with 
no  other  country  in  Europe  is  there  neces¬ 
sity  for  solution  of  this  grave  question, 
for  with  no  other  is  there  a  determination 
to  ignore  the  American  doctrine.  We  are 
boasting  that  treaties  are  about  being  made 
with  the  North  German  States  recog uizing 
the  right  of  expatriation;  but  the  North 
German  States  are  not  in  the  daily  habit  of 
insulting  us  by  arresting  and  imprisoning 
our  citizens. 

Y’ears  ago  Martin  Kostza,  a  Hungarian, 
only  having  declared  his  intention  to  be¬ 
come  an  American  citizen,  while  under  the 
protection  of  the  American  flag  was  seized 
by  Austria.  Captain  Ingrabam,  though  a 
thousand  miles  from  home,  with  nothing  of 
his  country  but  the  deck  on  which  he  trod, 
the  flag  above,  and  the  gallant  men  around 
him,  demanded  that  the  haughty  tyrant  re¬ 
lease  Kostza,  and  unless  he  was  restored  in 
the  time  limited  the  sound  of  American 
cannon  should  reecho  from  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean.  Marcy,  then  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State,  made  haste  to  affirm  the  action 
of  Captain  Ingraham,  and  the  great  national 
heart,  as  if  by  electric  impulse,  sprang  forth 
to  greet  him  as  a  hero  and  doubly  ratified 
the  deed.  Was  it  because  Austria  was  weak 
we  compelled  her  to  her  duty?  Within 
a  few  months  Great  Britain  has  seized  over 
three  hundred  American  citizens,  many  of 
whom  bad  defeuded  the  flag  when  in  peril, 
placed  them  in  dungeons,  and  at  least  a 
dozen  are  pining  in  a  long  series  of  penal 
servitude  in  defiance  of  our  rights  and 
contempt  of  our  power  as  a  nation.  The 
Administration  looks  coldly  on,  and  by  its 
non-formal  interference  acquiesces  in  the 
conduct  of  Great  Britain.  Uur  citizens  are 
subject  to  indignities  such  as  no  other  na¬ 
tion,  however  powerless,  would  tolerate 
without  at  least  a  manly  protest. 

When  the  elder  Adams  was  President, 
and  Ruius  King  Minister  at  St.  James,  and 
Irish  patriots,  such  as  Emmet,  desired 
passports,  he  declined  on  the  ground  that 
America  had  enough  such  republicans.  For 
just  such  acts  the  Federal  party  was  hurled 
from  power.  Another  administration — no 
better  than  the  old  Federal — is  now  in 
place.  The  elder  Adams  is  in  his  grave  ; 
hut  the  family  representative,  and  the  rep¬ 
resentative  of  Federalism,  was  Minister  at 
England,  and  he  was  ready  to  fawn  on 
royalty  and  bend  a  supple  knee  to  English 
dictation.  He  s“emed  to  manifest  no  sym¬ 
pathy  for  the  citizens  of  his  country  in 
prison.  Many  of  those  three  hundred 
have  been  released,  but  upon  conditions, 
more  humiliating  than  imprisonment,  that 
they  would  never  again  return  to  that 
country.  While  fresh  from  our  victory 


4 


over  the  greatest  rebellion  the  world  ever 
witnessed,  boasting  our  power  against  a 
world  in  arms,  we  concede  an  inability  to 
protect  our  own  citizens  who  have  just 
come  with  the  smell  of  battle  on  their 
garments  and  the  scars  of  conflict  on  their 
persons.  The  representatives  of  this  great 
Government  stand  trembling  in  presence 
of  royalty  with  hat  in  hand,  instead  of 
knocking  at  the  door  of  her  court  and 
demanding,  in  the  name  of  a  free  people, 
that  the  sanctity  of  the  American  citizen 
shall  be  respected.  Is  England  so  power¬ 
ful  she  shall  not  do  what  Austria  did  ? 
Are  we  so  base  that  we  'demand  from  Aus¬ 
tria  what  we  beg  from  England  ?  Before 
Great  Britain  would  submit  to  such  indig¬ 
nities,  her  cannon  would  echo  from  moun¬ 
tain  peak  to  mountain  peak,  until  the 
circuit  of  the  world  would  hear  its  roar. 

However  she  may  treat  her  own  subjects, 
England  stops  not  to  count  the  cost  when 
seeking  redress  for  injuries  inflicted  by 
other  nations  upon  them.  Her  citizens 
violate  the  laws  of  Theodore,  King  of 
Abyssinia,  are  imprisoned,  and,  to  relieve 
them,  an  army  marches  into  his  dominions, 
slays  the  king,  destroys  his  strongholds, 
and  burns  his  capitol,  lest  the  Abyssinians 
may  do  some  other  injury  to  her  subjects. 
England  graciously  assumes  the  labor  of 
ruling  that  country  for  the  future.  For 
three  hundred  years  the  pretext  of  protect¬ 
ing  her  citizens  has  been  more  the  reason 
for  trampling  on  weaker  nations,  to  punish 
and  subjugate  them.  So  she  did  through 
tyranny  in  India,  opium  in  China,  and 
poison  in  New  Holland.  When  she  plants 
her  foot  on  a  territory  she  never  leaves  it. 
She  makes  her  depredations  a  right,  her 
piracies  a  title  ;  and  during  all  the  three 
hundred  years  the  increase  of  her  power 
and  the  crimes  she  has  committed  against 
the  nations,  much  of  what  she  calls  na¬ 
tional  glory,  has  been  upheld  and  sus¬ 
tained  by  her  army,  a  large  portion  of 
which  has  been  that  very  Irish  population 
to  w7hom  this  day  she  denies  the  right  of 
expatriation. 

In  her  treatment  of  other  nations  Eng¬ 
land  has  been  a  great  freebooter,  spurning 
the  claims  of  others  which  she  demanded 
with  an  iron  will.  We  are  to  be  restrained 
from  exacting  our  rights  lest  the  great 
rover  may  consider  it  a  threat.  England 
protects  her  citizens  even  in  questionable 
rights  the  world  over,  and  makes  it  a  pre¬ 
text  for  extending  her  power  and  domi¬ 
nions;  and  shall  we  falter  in  demanding 
those  rights  which  are  the  life  of  this  Re¬ 
public,  without  which  we  never  could 
have  existence  or  power  among  the  na¬ 
tions  ? 

We  supposed  this  question  had  been  set¬ 
tled  with  Great  Britain  in  the  war  of  1812. 
Taking  men,  though  born  in  England,  from 
American  vessels  was  no  greater  offence 
than  immuring  in  English  dungeons  Amer¬ 
ican  citizens  born  in  Ireland;  but  the 


gauntlet,  though  the  bloody  one  of  war, 
was  thrown  down  by  England;  we  took  it 
up,  and  upon  the  land  and  upon  the  sea 
we  triumphed.  Any  other  nation  but  Eng¬ 
land  would  have  recognized  the  result  of 
that  war.  Most  any  government  but  ours 
would  have  insisted  that  England  respect 
those  victories.  Undoubtedly  the  British 
aristocracy  do  not  like  the  Irish  people,  as 
they  do  not  us,  (“I  mean  the  loyal  portion 
of  this  Republic;”)  for  the  rebels  they  did 
have  some  bowels  of  compassion.  They 
loaned  money  and  took  cotton  bonds  as 
security.  They  built  war  vessels,  manned 
them  with  English  sailors,  equipped  them 
with  English  outfits,  and  let  them  forth  to 
drive  our  commerce  from  the  ssas.  They 
built  fast  steamers,  loaded  them  with  ne¬ 
cessaries,  munitions  of  war,  and  then  run 
our  blockade.  £he  furnished  a  home  in 
England  for  agents  of  the  rebellion,  and  in 
Canada  a  rendezvous  for  the  bandit  crew 
to  organize  murder,  arson,  and  scatter 
seeds  of  pestilence  within  our  borders. 
When  the  Trent  was  boarded  by  Admiral 
Wilkes  and  the  brace  of  traitors,  Mason 
and  Slidell,  were  arrested,  to  answer  the 
violated  laws  of  their  country,  she  made 
haste  to  demand  the  restoration  of  their 
bodies  and  ample  apology  for  the  contempt 
we  had  shown  to  the  offended  sovereignty 
of  Great  Britain;  yet  she  must  be  allowed 
more  zeal  for  American  criminals  than  we 
can  manifest  for  American  citizens. 

When  we  speak  ol  England  in  this  con¬ 
nection,  we  refer  to  her  ruling  classes,  to 
her  aristocracy,  to  those  who  claim  that 
they  are  booted  and  spurred  and  have  a 
hereditary  right  to  govern.  We  are  to  day 
proud  of  English  history — proud  of  the 
occasional  triumphs  of  her  sturdy  yeomanry 
from  the  time  when  the  Roman  conqueror 
first  planted  the  eagle  of  Italy  on  the 
rocks  of  Great  Britain  and  returned  to  tell 
of  a  stony  island  in  the  ocean  and  of  the 
rugged  barbarians  who  dwelt  in  its  glens 
and  hunted  on  its  cliffs.  Many  a  time  were 
English  tyrants  compelled  to  bow  before 
the  indignant  Briton.  The  pride  of  the 
Norman  princes  were  humbled  when  upon 
King  John  the  assembled  barons  imposed 
Magna  Charta.  The  nation  wTas  avenged 
for  the  isolence  and  tyranny  of  the  Tudors 
when  a  haughty  line  of  monarchs  went 
down  in  blood,  and  the  septre  was  grasped 
by  Cromwell.  For  centuries  her  struggling 
masses  have  been  ridden  by  the  few;  now  and 
then  rising  in  the  majesty  of  their  power, 
they  have  dashed  tneir  riders  in  the  dust. 
Her  middle  classes  sympathised  with  us  in 
our  contest,  for  in  our  success  was  fore¬ 
shadowed  their  deliverance.  For  centuries 
the  party  of  freedom,  against  great  odds, 
have  struggled  long  and  patiently,  gaining 
by  slow  degrees,  rescuing  little  by  little 
something  of  human  rights  from  the  grasp 
of  the  oppressor.  Long  her  landed  aristo¬ 
cracy  held  a  vice-like  grasp.  The  people 
were  forbearing  and  forgiving.  The  corn 


5 


laws,  oppressing  so  many,  were  submitted 
to  until  to  the  sense  of  injustice  the  dread 
of  starvation  was  added,  and  England’s 
nobility  were  saved  by  consenting  t )  blot 
out  the  infamous  code. 

Of  the  struggles  of  England  poor  and 
oppressed  for  centuries,  we  are  proud.  All 
of  her  late  history  and  liberty  that  is 
valuable  has  been  earned  by  them  ;  and 
each  victory  over  wrong  widens  the 
plane  of  vision  and  gives  hope  for  greater 
benefits.  Liberalism  obtained  Magna 
Charta,  and  the  centuries  between  her 
achieved  liberties  based  on  that  victory, 
until  the  exertions  of  their  immediate  suc¬ 
cessions  have  culminated  in  the  triumphs 
of  the  same  class  hated  by  Bright  and  Glad¬ 
stone.  To-day  liberty-loving  Englishmen, 
like  Bright  and  Gladstone,  acknowledge 
the  hardship,  while  they  advocate  the  rights 
of  Irishmen.  We  only  arraign  that  por¬ 
tion  of  England  which  is  in  sympathy  with 
oppression  and  wrong — that  portion  like 
unto  Dickens,  who  had  not  one  word  of 
sympathy  during  our  struggle — whose  in¬ 
fluence  and  assistance  threw  against  us, 
yet  after  rebellion  had  proved  a  failure, 
and  Americans  were  frantic  in  an  endeavor 
to  dine  and  wine  him,  entertained  them 
with  the  cheap  declaration  that  next  to 
their  own  flag  they  loved  that  of  the  United 
States,  passing  by  entirely  the  love  they 
had  for  the  stars  and  bars.  English  aris¬ 
tocracy,  which  has  always  opposed  us,  to¬ 
day  are  denying  the  right  of  expatriation. 
Our  national  life  depends  on  the  recogni¬ 
tion  of  this  doctrine.  We  invite  popula¬ 
tion  from  all  nations  of  the  earth,  throw 
open  our  doors,  give  a  farm  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  sixty  acres  to  whoever  will  come 
and  occupy  the  land,  expect  them  to  be 
citizens  in  peace  and  soldiers  in  war,  yet 
conceding  we  have  not  power  to  protect 
them  in  their  chosen  and  cherished  nation¬ 
ality — that  if  they  desire  to  revisit  the  homes 
and  graves  of  their  fathers,  or  business 
draws  them  thither,  the  dogma  of  perpetual^ 
allegiance  enables  the  discarded  govern-' 
ment  to  seize  the  person  and  compel  alle¬ 
giance  by  serving  in  their  armies  and  navies. 

Should  war  ensue  between  this  country 
and  Great  Britain,  every  naturalized  citi¬ 
zen  from  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland, 
who  served  in  our  armies  would  do  so  at 
the  peril,  if  captured  as  a  prisoner,  of 
being  tried  and  punished  as  a  traitor 
agaiust  Great  Britain.  The  proportion 
needs  no  argument;  its  vital  importance  is 
evidenced  by  the  mere  statement  and  crim¬ 
inal  neglect  of  a  Government  that  would 
not  demand  it;  as  a  Chicago  platform  says, 
“  at  all  hazards ,”  is  open  to  the  scorn  ol 
the  world.  When  President  Johnson  was 
asked  to  secure  the  release  of  American 
citizens  he  asked  for  additional  legislation. 
The  Democratic  party  boasted  the  control 
of  this  Government  for  half  a  century,  yet 
they  failed  to  incorporate  any  such  legisla¬ 
tion  on  the  statute  book.  The  law  of  na¬ 


tions  give  authority  necessary  to  save  thj 
nation’s  life  and  to  defend  its  citizens.  Thj 
|  Chicago  platform  pledges  the  party  to  thj 
doctrine  ;  the  House  of  Representatives  bi 
an  almost  unanimous  vote  passed  the  bill 
providing  for  its  enforcement,  yet  the  Senatl 
stand  halting,  fearing  the  English  lion  mai 
roar  and  shake  its  bloody  mane  at  us  if  wl 
dare  declare  what  rights  belong  to  Ameril 
can  citizenship,  and  how  far  the  worlj 
must  respect  them. 

England,  true  to  her  many  inconsisten] 
icies,  has  acknowledged  the  right  of  expal 
jtriation,  which  is  a  necessary  consequencl 
of  emigration.  Old  Pharoah  undertook  tj 
deny  to  the  Israelites  the  privilege  to  emj 
grate  from  Egypt,  but  he  fared  badly  in  th 
i  attempt.  Greece  and  Rome  acknowledge] 
the  right.  Systems  of  naturalization  prd 
vailed  with  them.  Cicero  says  :  “Oh 
glorious  right  by  which  no  man  can  be 
citizen  of  more  than  one  commonwealth-] 
by  which  no  man  can  be  compelled  to  leav 
it  against  his  will,  nor  remain  in  it  again] 
his  inclinations.’’ 

All  writers  on  natural  law  will  admit  tha 
'expatriation  is  a  natural  right,  and  may  b 
exercised  when  it  is  not  forbidden  by  law] 
In  Eagland  there  was  never  such  a  law. 

I  In  the  year  1803,  a  society  in  Scotian] 
procured  from  Parliament  an  act,  the  objed 
of  which  was  declared  to  be  to  prevent  thj 
hardships  and  abuses  to  which  the  highlan 
emigrant  was  exposed.  An  act  regulating, 
not  restraining  emigration.  The  real  objed 
of  this  law,  according  to  Lord  Selkirk,  wd 
| to  discourage  emigration.  Still  here  was 
'sanction  of  the  British  Parliament.  At  a] 
early  period  it  adopted  the  idea  that  it  wd 
lawful  to  throw  off  allegiance,  as  appead 
;by  statute  of  fourteen  and  fifteen  of  Hemj 
i V III,  passed  in  the  year  1523,  entitle] 
!  “what  customs  and  impositions  English 
'men  sworn  to  foreign  princes  shall  pay.] 
jit  also  allowed  foreigners  to  be  citizens  b 
a  law  passed  in  the  thirteenth  year  d 
;  George  II:  “Foreign  seamen  who  sha 
jbave  served  two  years  in  a  ship  of  war  an 
ipso  facto  naturalized  British  subjects^ 
other  classes  are  by  different  statutes  natd 
ralized  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  if  the 
had  been  born  British  subjects.” 

In  the  time  of  Queen  Anne  a  law  wd 
passed  naturalizing  all  foreign  Protestants 
!  This  law  was  repealed  because  it  wasfoun 
'to  be  inexpedient,  and  not  from  any  doulj 
of  the  power  or  right  of  the  Governmen 
on  the  subject  of  naturalization.  The  sta] 
ute  of  13  George  II  is  confirmed  by  2 
George  III,  chapter  20,  section  2:  “Fron 
and  after  the  1st  day  of  January,  1736,  md 
rines  who  shall  have  served  for  the  spaced 
two  years  on  board  of  any  of  his  Majesty 
ships  of  wTar,  merchant,  or  trading  vessel] 
shall,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  bedeema 
and  taken  to  be  natural  born  subjects  d 
his  Majesty’s  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain. 
Thus  the  British  doctrine  of  perpetua 
1  allegiance  is  contradicted  by  the  Britia 


6 


practice  of  naturalization.  English  deci- 
fions,  like  English  statutes,  have  made 
pipwreck  of  their  own  dogma. 

The  theory  of  perpetual  allegiance  grew 
ut  of  the  feudal  system,  when  fealty  was 
ue  from  the  subject,  as  tenant  came 
rom  tenure  and  not  from  birth.  Lands 
[ere  held  on  condition  of  military 
ervice.  Why  retain  one  of  the  ind¬ 
ents  of  this  system  when  the  system  itself 
as  perished? 

I  In  discussing  the  question,  we  of  neces- 
ity  antagonize  England,  and  are  defend- 
bg,  necessarily,  the  rights,  among  others, 
f  naturalized  citizens  from  Ireland  ;  yet 
pey  are  our  own  rights.  Without  their  ac- 
nowledgment,  our  boast  as  a  Republic  is 
one.  And  of  what  value  can  it  be  to 
ay,  “I,  too,  am  an  American  citizen  !” 
t  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  many  of  our 
eople  say,  “Irishmen  are  against  uni- 
ersal  liberty  and  free  suffrage  ;  their  sym- 
athies  in  this  country  are  with  the  Con- 
prvative  party,  which  has  the  sympathy 
f  their  conservative  oppressors  at  home.” 
p  is  also  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  too 
puch  truth  for  such  sentiment.  It  seems 
Imost  incredible  that  any  foreigner  whose 
eck  has  been,  chafed  by  the  yoke  of  op- 
ression  should  aid  a  party  who  denies 
pe  right  of  liberty  to  all  men.  In  other 
buntries  men  are  treated  as  slaves — denied 
pe  rights  of  citizenship— who  are  white, 
p.  England  and  Ireland  the  white  man  is 
bpt  a  hewer  of  wood  and  drawer  of 
rater,  with  the  same  indifference  the 
lack  man  was  here.  The  argument  is 
pe  same,  that  all  men  are  not.  fit  to  be  free, 
pd  should  not  exercise  the  elective  fran- 
pise.  The  man  who  has  felt  the  yoke  of 
bndage  and  then  wants  to  keep  any 
tartion  of  the  human  family,  no  matter 
pe  color  of  the  skin,  in  slavery,  does  not 
Csire  himself  to  be  free. 

|  The  meanness  of  caste  in  this  country 
p  account  of  color  is  no  more  wicked 
aan  the  caste  of  nation,  religion,  or  blood 
i  Great  Britain.  Conservatives  here  talk 
If  a  white  man’s  government;  in  Great 
Iritain  it  is  only  a  certain  kind  of  -white 
ian’s  blood  entitled  to  consideration, 
ne  claim  is  equally  as  valid  as  the  other. 
fhe  only  hope  for  the  world  is  in  liberty 
)r  all  men,  and  until  that  thought  is  crys- 
Llized  into  warm,  zealous  action  by  all 
kers  of  liberty,  there  will  be  little  of  ad- 
ancement  for  the  oppressed.  Restrict 
eedom  to  color,  caste,  and  blood,  and  you 
returning  back  the  hands  on  the  dial  of 
eedom.  You  are  not  ushering  the  world 
pm  the  eclipse  of  ages  of  oppression;  and 
[r  fear  the  unfortunate  black  man  should 
b  free  would  tuna  upon  the  oppressed 
rhite  man,  centuries  more  of  burthen, 
may  be  natural  for  Irishmen  to  be  Demo- 
rats — it  is  a  tradition  of  his  nation.  He 
Imembers  the  injustice  of  the  administra- 
bn  of  Adams,  and  that  Jefferson,  the 
Ither  of  Democracy,  opened  his  heart  and 


this  nation  as  a  refuge;  that  Jackson,  him¬ 
self  an  Irishman,  was  in  sympathy  with 
his  fatherland;  but  Democracy  then  was 
not  a  conservative  party.  Jefferson  and 
Jackson  were  radicals  in  those  days.  The 
vitality  of  Democratic  principles  was  stifled 
when  the  old  party  came  under  the  con¬ 
trol,  as  it  did,  of  the  biding  of  slave  lords 
of  the  South,  and  was  sought  to  be  made 
the  stalking  horse  to  carry  slavery  through¬ 
out  the  Republic. 

I  ask  an  Englishman  how  much  the  con 
servative  Democrat  in  this  country  would 
regard  him  were  it  not  for  the  ballot  he 
wields;  and  while  he  is  chaffering  about 
the  right  of  the  negro,  let  him  ask  himself 
the  question,  what  would  be  his  chance  of 
protection  in  the  country  at  the  hands  of 
Conservatives  without  it.  They  would 
damn  him  with  the  same  unction  they  do 
the  negro.  Have  they  forgotten,  even  with 
that,  what  they  suffered  a  few  years  ago  at 
the  hands  of  mobs,  who  burned  churches 
and  convents,  and  also  a  few  years  later, 
through  know-nothing  councils,  awakened 
national  prejudices  and  religious  hates; 
yet  to-day  a  large  portion  of  the  Irish  are 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Brooks  and 
the  class  of  men  whose  influence  was  to. 
burn  churches,  and  “to  put  none  but 
Americans  on  guard.”  The  same  men 
who  awoke  the  spirit  of  violence  to  burn 
your  churches  aroused  the  hellish  spirit  of 
hate  in  the  breasts  of  some  of  your  people 
in  an  infamous  riot  in  New  York  city  to 
burn  orphan  asylums  and  murder  women 
and  children  because  they  were  black. 
Your  churches  were  burned,  yet  you  were 
white.  Was  the  crime  any  less  than  the 
other,  when  a  mob  destroyed  asylums  and 
murdered,  because  the  "occupants  were 
black? 

You  want  Ireland  free.  It  never  will 
be  until  you  love  liberty  for  liberty’s  sake, 
and  believe  in  it  enough  that  you  desire 
men  of  all  castes,  religion,  and  colors  shall 
enjov  it.  Then  the  deliverance  of  your 
fatherland  will  be  nigh.  You  are  now  only 
used  as  a  tail  to  fly  the  Democratic  kite — 
not  so  much  to  be  censured  as  men  like 
Brooks  and  Seymour,  who  seek  to  curtail 
liberty  because  they  are  opposed  to  its  ex¬ 
tension  whether  to  the  children  of  African, 
Erin,  or  Crete.  Strange  that  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  party  has  infused  its  hatred  into  the 
Irish  mind,  for  the  Catholic  Church  is  the 
most  liberal  to  the  African  of  all  religious 
denominations.  The  great  O’Connell, 
whose  heart  was  the  home  of  Irish  joys 
and  Irish  sorrows,  the  ocean  of  whose 
philanthropy  knew  no  share  in  despised 
slavery,  and  would  not  receive  as  a  gift 
money  from  unrequitted  toil,  with  pro¬ 
phetic  vision  said  :  “  I  pray  God  that 

you  may  do  away  with  this  dreadful  sys¬ 
tem,  and  then  your  nation  will  be  fair  as  the 
sun,  clear  as  the  moon,  and  more  terrible 
to  the  gray-headed  aristocracy  of’ Europe 
than  an  army  with  banners.” 


The  Republican  party  believes  that  all 
nations  should  enjoy  liberty,  and  I  here 
protest  that  any  feeling  of  antagonism 
should  exist  against  Ireland,  even  though  a 
large  proportion  of  our  Irish-born  citizens 
should  attempt  to  restrict  it  to  the  condition 
of  color  in  this  country.  We  believe  that 
the  Cretan,  the  Hungarian,  the  Irishman, 
the  African,  all  should  be  free,  all  shades 
of  color,  all  grades  and  shades  of  religious 
faith,  all  races  of  men,  not  by  reason  of 
physical  development  or  mental  endow¬ 
ment.  but  alone  by  the  title  of  manhood 
which  the  Almighty  stamped  at  the  day  of 
the  creation  of  man  in  his  image,  when  he 
placed  a  heart  in  his  breast  and  a  brain  in 
his  head.  We  intend  to  struggle  for  that 
full  fruition  and  complete  development. 
Yet  Irishmen  in  this  country,  by  opposi¬ 
tion  to  universal  liberty,  may  delay  the 
coming  of  that  glorious  time.  Had  the 
bulk  of  the  Irish  population  here  warmly 
sympathized  with  us  in  our  late  struggle, 
had  they  steadily  refused  to  be  made  the 
tools  of  Seymour  and  the  Copperheads,  do 
they  not  know  that  the  regard  they  mani¬ 
fested  for  us  and  universal  liberty  would 
have  been  doubly  repaid,  and  that  when 
the  time  came  for  them  to  strike  the 
shackles  from  Ireland’s  nationality,  a  power 
from  this  country  would  have  gone  up  with 
them  which  would  have  opened  every 
prison  door,  and,  if  England  staked  the 
chances  of  opposition,  would  have  trampled 
her  throne  in  the  dust  and  thrown  it  in  the 
sea. 

To  every  nation  in  Europe  striving  to  be 
free  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude.  It  is  a 
tribute  they  are  paying  to  the  spirit  of 
American  liberality,  and  gives  promise  of 
the  time  when  the  chill  of  death  shall 
gether  about  the  heart  of  despotism.  A 
cold  conservatism  has  long  enough  dead¬ 
ened  our  sympathies  for  the  oppressed. 
Monarchs  may  combine  for  the  protection 
of  each  and  to  preserve  the  balance  of 
power.  How  soon  would  a  republic  in 
Europe  be  torn  as  a  gentle  kid'  by  the 
fierce  wolves  of  arbitrary  power  so  that 
freedom  should  never  have  a  foothold? 
Italy  must  be  sundered  and  Poland  dis¬ 
membered  so  that  crowns  should  rest  more 
securely  on  the  heads  of  tyrants.  In  the 
fierce  struggle  of  1848,  this  Republic  was 
as  powerless  as  though  European  mon¬ 
archs  had  bound  her  hand  and  foot.  The 
time  must  come  when  we  will  be  allowed 
the  same  sympathy  and  support  to  freedom 
that  absolute  power  yields  to  despotism. 
Did  we  do  our  duty,  to-day  the  gallant 
band  of  Cretans  in  their  island  fortress 
would  not,  single  handed,  be  engaged  in  a 
deadly  struggle  with  the  Turks. 

As  the  arguments,  so  the  customs  and 
laws  of  despots  in  all  ages  have  been  the 
same.  The  English  code  in  Ireland  was 
an  outburst  of  religious  hate,  and  a  bate  of 
races— the  substratum  of  all  despotism  is 
hate.  Phaioah’s  oppression,  England’s 


oppression,  and  the  slaveholder’s  opprei 
sion  was  substantially  the  same.  Whitl 
men  in  England  governed  white  men  il 
Ireland  with  the  same  code  that  rebels,  gal 
vanized  into  State  governments  by  John! 
son,  endeavored  to  impose  on  the  freedmed 
no  suffrage;  while  in  Ireland  was  three  pel 
cent,  to  vote,  and  even  then  commenced  I 
long  martyrdom  and  terrible  agony  likl 
that  under  which  the  negro  bends  to-day  il 
ten  States,  with  the  empty  mockery  of  thl 
ballot  at  the  peril  of  life,  not  allowed  tl 
carry  arms;  no  education  of  children 
not  allowed  to  leave  residence  after  sunsa 
— in  Ireland  after  the  curfew;  no  intermal 
riage  of  Catholics  with  Protestants;  killinl 
of  an  Irishman  by  an  Englishman  no  felon  j| 
denial  of  the  right  to  sit  on  juries,  for  Ena 
land  held  the  courts  and  press  and  gave  itl 
own  coloring  to  what  it  called  Ireland] 
complaints,  and  what  she  called  Ireland] 
Outrages.  The  outside  world  only  kncl 
of  Ireland  through  seven  hundred  of  itl 
dark  and  bloody  years  through  Englis] 
historians;  so  the  world  knew  but  little  d 
the  system  of  slavery  except  through  thl 
slaveholders’  press.  The  African  commit 
ted  no  crime  whereby  he  was  enslaved,  anl 
is  now  sought  to  be  disfranchised.  Thl 
Irishman  committed  no  crime,  that  for  sevel 
hundred  years  he  has  been  deprived  of  ha 
rights  as  a  nation  and  subjected  to  all  thl 
indignities  which  cruelty  could  suggest. 

It  is  natural  the  English  Conservative! 
should  oppose  the  enfranchisement  of  ird 
land.  It  is  natural  conservative  Democrat! 
should  o.ppose  liberation  and  suffrage  t| 
the  African,  but  it  is  unnatural  tl^at  Iri?  I 
men  should  deny  freedom  and  its  bene'fil 
to  any  human  being,  no  matter  the  aoll 
of  his  skin,  the  extent  of  his  mental!  c 
pacity,  or  the  degredation  from  whie  h  a 
is  raised.  Slavery  debased  in  igno>  .anl 
the  negro,  and  then  pointed  to  that  ignl 
ranee  as  a  reason  why  he  should  n  ot  I 
elevated.  England  for  centuries  dis  roba 
Ireland  of  his  nationality,  took  aw  ay  tfl 
land  from  its  ancient  owners,  so  tl  aat  a 
peasantry  had  no  claim  to  the  cotl  age  \ 
the  acre  on  which  they  lived,  d<  priva 
them  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  so  tin  jy  su 
sisted  at  one  time  on  sea-weed  an  d  pot 
toes,  and  in  miserable  hovels.  !  Ha  via 
stripped  them  of  property,  education,  an 
everything  that  makes  life  happy,  \  >oint  i 
their  miserable  condition  as  a  reasi  >n  thd 
should  be  longer  oppressed. 

We  have  a  right  to  sympathize  with  a 
nations  struggling  to  be  free;  from  all  nJ 
tions  came  those  who  planted  the  germ  q 
a  republic  amid  the  blasts  of  water,  tn 
bowlings  of  the  wilderness,  and  the  deadl 
whoops  of  the  savage;  from  all  nation 
were  filled  the  serried  ranks  which  carrie 
the  flowery  standard  through  seven  years  d 
war;  from  then  till  now  from  all  natioru 
comes  that  continually-recruited  army 
which  not  less  than  the  hosts  that  unfurle 
its  standard  at  Bunker  Hill  and  took  thl 


8 


f 


I  British  coldrs  down  at  Yorktown,  is  entitled 
Po  be  called  the  army  of  liberation,  as  the 
Emigrant  multitude,  armed  with  imple¬ 
ments  of  labor,  smite  the  forest  and  the 
>rairie  from  the  morning  until  the  evening, 
Lnd  plant  in  advance  of  the  ages  to  come 
he  starry  banner  of  the  nation  against  the 
'rontier  sky. 

•  We  do  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Ireland 
por  what  she  has  contributed  to  the  world 
nd  our  own  history.  She  has  given  states¬ 
men,  orators,  and  poets,  unrivalled  in  the 
arth.  Sheridan,  the  first  of  orators;  Wel¬ 
lington,  the  great  soldier;  the  sweetest  poet 
hf  the  language  was  Moore;  the  most  vigo- 
ous  writer  was  Swift;  the  greatest  statesman 
Vas  Burke;  Commodore  Perry,  of  our  own 
lavy,  whom  the  English  could  not  bribe 
or  sixty  thousand  pounds  and  a  captaincy 
*f  an  English  frigate.  The  Irish  have  pro¬ 
duced  generals  and  marshals  of  France, 
>pain,  Austria,  Russia,  and  Sardinia;  fur- 
dshed  magnates  of  the  empire  and  grandees 
f  Spain.  They  renewed  the  wars  against 
England  under  the  banners  of  her  enemies. 
Their  valor  was  arrayed  against  her  at  Ro- 
niliies,  Almanza,  and  Lanfeldt.  She  en- 
ountered  it  in  the  service  of  Spain  at  Gib- 
altar;  under  Lally  at  Pondicherry,  and  it 
urned  the  day  against  the  iron  steadfast- 
less  of  her  infantry  at  Fontenoy.  The 
rish  blood  has  given  a  ruler  to  Spain  in 
he  person  of  O’Donnell,  a  hero  to  France 
n  McMahon. 

1  After  the  revolution  of  1688,  William  and 
Mary  discouraged  manufacturing  in  Ire- 
and,  and  many  came  early  to  this  coun- 
ry — men  like  the  Clintons  of  New  York, 
he  Carrolls  efi  Maryland.  To  Massachu- 
etts  came  Berkley,  in  1729,  who,  at  his 
avorite  retreat  at  Narragansett  bay,  wrote: 

-Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way; 

The  four  first  acts  already  past, 
t  fifth  shtll  close  the  drama  with  the  day— 

Time’s  noblest  offspring  is  the  last. 

They  enlisted  early  in  the  war  of  the 
evolution.  Patrick  Henry  was  its  most 
lislinguished  orator.  In  England,  headed 
>y  Burke,  Barre,  and  Sheridan,  spoke 
ind  wrote  in  our  defence.  While  in  France 
McMahon,  Dillon,  Fermoy,  and  Conway, 
vere  ready  to  and  did  volunteer.  Richard 
Montgomery,  John  Sullivan,  George  Clin- 
on,  and  Anthony  Wayne  were  among  the 
irst  brigadiers  in  the  patriot  army;  and 
hrough  the  war  one-third  of  the  active 
•hiefs  were  of  Irish  birth  or  descent. 

Our  navy  was  started  under  command  of 
m  Irishman,  and  when  the  flag  of  the 
Jnion  was  agreed  on,  Captain  John  Bar- 
ng,  a  wonderful  man,  was  the  first  to 


hoist  it  over  the  Lexington.  John  Dunlap, 
an  Irishman,  in  1771,  printed  the  first  daily 
paper  in  America.  He  was  printer  to  the 
convention  of  1774  and  the  first  Congress; 
the  first  who  printed  the  Declaration  of  In¬ 
dependence,  which  was  first  copied  by 
Charles  Thompson,  and  first  read  to  the 
people  by  Colonel  John  Nixon,  and  in  1815 
first  published  with  fac-simiies  by  John 
Burns — all  Irishmen.  Nine  out  of  the 
fifty-six  persons  signing  the  Declaration, 
six  of  the  thirty- six  delegates  by  whom  the 
Constitution  of  1787  was  promulgated,  were 
of  Irish  origin.  The  first  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania  after  the  war  was  a  native  of 
Dublin.  Among  Senators  were  two,  and 
among  Representatives  in  Congress  the 
same  number  of  Irishmen.  From  that  race 
were  early  advocates  of  internal  improve¬ 
ments.  Sullivan,  of  Massachusetts,  pro¬ 
jected  the  Middlesex  canal.  In  1784  Chris¬ 
topher  Colles  petitioned  the  Legislature  of 
New  York  on  the  importance  of  uniting 
the  Western  lakes  to  the  Atlantic;  also, 
Robert  Fulton;  while  the  most  distinguished 
mathematician  on  the  continent  was  Robert 
Adrain.  These  were  some  of  the  studious 
men,  stout-hearted  wrestlers  with  formida¬ 
ble  problems,  patient  bearers  for  truth’s 
sake  of  ridicule  and  reproach,  we  most  boast 
of  and  enjoy. 

In  the  navy,  1814,  Blakely  commanded 
the  Wasp,  which  defeated  the  Reindeer; 
Thomas  McDonough,  with  Stephen  De¬ 
catur,  distinguished  himself  in  the  attack 
on  Tripoli,  1805;  and  in  1814,  on  Lake 
Champlain,  with  86  guns,  defeated  the 
British  fleet  with  95.  Charles  Stewart 
was  the  fifth  commodore  Ireland  gave  to 
America. 

Thus  these  noble  men  helped  to  make 
this  a  refuge  for  their  posterity  from  the 
oppression  of  England  ;  and  they  did  hope, 
in  the  coming  time,  from  out  this  Republic 
would  go  forth  an  influence  which,  if  it  did 
not  redress  the  wrongs  of  seven  hundred 
years,  would  at  least  plant  the  sunburst 
in  glory  once  more,  and  the  harp,  if  not 
rung  again  in  Tara’s  Halls,  might  sound 
notes  of  freedom  through  the  Celtic  heart, 
and  proclaim  that  Ireland  was  not  only 
restored  to  her  place  among  the  nations, 
but  that  the  mantle  adorned  her  shoulders 
and  the  casket  of  freedom,  not  with  parti¬ 
colored  stars,  but  refulgent  with  universal 
liberty,  might  appear  in  enduring  light  to 
strengthen  the  hearts  and  nerve  the  pur¬ 
poses  of  Europe’s  struggling  millions. 
That  day  must  come — how  soon  will  be 
determined  by  the  manner  in  which  Irish¬ 
men  discharge  their  duties  in  America. 


